Misandry 101

A Starter Kit for Baby Feminists

THANKS TO single-sex education and a pre-adolescent indoctrination via New Moon magazine, the number of documentaries on the women's movement I've seen is legion. If you share my hobby, don't be dissuaded by the cloying title of Mary Dore's new documentary (or your suspicion that it's actually Makers 2: Still Making America), or else you'll miss a delightfully comprehensive take on the movement, with minimal levels of hagiography.

Too often, documentaries like this go crazy for Gloria Steinem (no shade, luv u, Gloria!) and other white/straight/privileged feminists, without acknowledging, you know, INTERSECTING MODES OF OPPRESSION. She's Beautiful When She's Angry avoids this trap, mapping out the work of women of color, queer activists, and those who wouldn't be caught dead (or wouldn't have been safe) going "undercover" as a Playboy Bunny. Dore also addresses mutiny within the ranks (Betty Friedan was right about many things; lesbians were not one of them!) and the abject horror of life before Roe v. Wade.

There are rookie mistakes: One interview perpetuates the myth of bra-burning (despite its refusal to vacate America's popular imagination, it never actually happened), and a segment on contemporary activism glosses over young women rallying for reproductive rights behind leaders like Wendy Davis, instead focusing on SlutWalks, which have been roundly criticized by many young feminists for their seeming lack of both inclusiveness and ties to concrete policies that would prevent violence against women. The reason these uncritical inclusions stick out, though, is because the film is otherwise such a solid primer on the fight for gender equality. Concerned parents of 13-year-old girls should put down their dog-eared copies of Reviving Ophelia and take their daughters to see it. With WITCHES HEXING THE PATRIARCHY, and a soundtrack that eschews Marlo Thomas for Cat Power and Bikini Kill, Dore's made the perfect starter kit for baby
feminists everywhere.